Project description:Urinary tract infections (UTIs) constitute a highly relevant model of microbial adaptation, in which the contrasting effects of pathogens and commensals on host tissues are clearly displayed. While virulent Escherichia coli cause severe, potentially life-threatening disease by breaking the inertia of the mucosal barrier and infecting the kidneys, the most common outcome of bacteriuria is an asymptomatic carrier state resembling commensalism at other mucosal sites. It remains unclear if the lack of destructive inflammation merely reflects low virulence or if carrier strains actively inhibit disease associated responses in the host. To address this question, we examined the effects of asymptomatic bacterial carriage on host gene expression. The asymptomatic strain E. coli 83972 caused reduction in Pol II phosphorylation in the nuclei of human kidney epithelial A498 cells. To specifically address if Pol II inhibition alters the response to infection, A498 cells were pretreated with 5,6-dichloro-1-b-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole (DRB). This adenosine analogue has been proposed to specifically and reversibly inhibit Pol II transcription without directly affecting other cellular functions. A498 cultered cells were infected with E. coli 83972 or DRB for 4 hours. The culture medium with DMSO was used as a background control. A498 cells were infected with E. coli 83972 or DRB for 4 h. Isolated RNA was subjected to whole genome transcriptome analysis.
Project description:Urinary tract infections (UTIs) constitute a highly relevant model of microbial adaptation, in which the contrasting effects of pathogens and commensals on host tissues are clearly displayed. While virulent Escherichia coli cause severe, potentially life-threatening disease by breaking the inertia of the mucosal barrier and infecting the kidneys, the most common outcome of bacteriuria is an asymptomatic carrier state resembling commensalism at other mucosal sites. It remains unclear if the lack of destructive inflammation merely reflects low virulence or if carrier strains actively inhibit disease associated responses in the host. To address this question, we examined the effects of asymptomatic bacterial carriage on host gene expression. The asymptomatic strain E. coli 83972 caused reduction in Pol II phosphorylation in the nuclei of human kidney epithelial A498 cells. To specifically address if Pol II inhibition alters the response to infection, A498 cells were pretreated with 5,6-dichloro-1-b-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole (DRB). This adenosine analogue has been proposed to specifically and reversibly inhibit Pol II transcription without directly affecting other cellular functions. A498 cultered cells were infected with E. coli 83972 or DRB for 4 hours. The culture medium with DMSO was used as a background control.
Project description:Urinary tract infections (UTIs) constitute a highly relevant model of microbial adaptation, in which the contrasting effects of pathogens and commensals on host tissues are clearly displayed. While virulent Escherichia coli cause severe, potentially life-threatening disease by breaking the inertia of the mucosal barrier and infecting the kidneys, the most common outcome of bacteriuria is an asymptomatic carrier state resembling commensalism at other mucosal sites. It remains unclear if the lack of destructive inflammation merely reflects low virulence or if carrier strains actively inhibit disease associated responses in the host. To address this question, we examined the effects of asymptomatic bacterial carriage on host gene expression. A498 cell line has been validated as a model of uropathogenic E. coli infection; the cells express functional receptors for bacterial virulence ligands and the response to virulent strains reflects human UTI. The cells were infected with asymptomatic and pathogenic E. coli in vitro, and harvested RNA was subjected to whole genome transcriptome analysis. A498 human kidney epithelial cells were infected with the asymptomatic (E. coli 83972) or virulent strains (E. coli CFT073) for 4 hours. The cells with culture medium alone were used as a control. The experiment was performed in biological duplicates or triplicates.
Project description:Gene expression profiling of immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells with hTERT/E6/E7 transfected MSCs. hTERT may change gene expression in MSCs. Goal was to determine the gene expressions of immortalized MSCs.
Project description:Kynureninase is a member of a large family of catalytically diverse but structurally homologous pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes known as the aspartate aminotransferase superfamily or alpha-family. The Homo sapiens and other eukaryotic constitutive kynureninases preferentially catalyze the hydrolytic cleavage of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate and l-alanine, while l-kynurenine is the substrate of many prokaryotic inducible kynureninases. The human enzyme was cloned with an N-terminal hexahistidine tag, expressed, and purified from a bacterial expression system using Ni metal ion affinity chromatography. Kinetic characterization of the recombinant enzyme reveals classic Michaelis-Menten behavior, with a Km of 28.3 +/- 1.9 microM and a specific activity of 1.75 micromol min-1 mg-1 for 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine. Crystals of recombinant kynureninase that diffracted to 2.0 A were obtained, and the atomic structure of the PLP-bound holoenzyme was determined by molecular replacement using the Pseudomonas fluorescens kynureninase structure (PDB entry 1qz9) as the phasing model. A structural superposition with the P. fluorescens kynureninase revealed that these two structures resemble the "open" and "closed" conformations of aspartate aminotransferase. The comparison illustrates the dynamic nature of these proteins' small domains and reveals a role for Arg-434 similar to its role in other AAT alpha-family members. Docking of 3-hydroxy-l-kynurenine into the human kynureninase active site suggests that Asn-333 and His-102 are involved in substrate binding and molecular discrimination between inducible and constitutive kynureninase substrates.